Northern Saw-whet OwlNorthern Saw-whet Owl

 On our evening walk along Sandy Cove Road, Halifax Regional Municipality we heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling agressively from the forest. I didn't have my camera with me so after dropping Laura off at home I returned and tried to get some photos. It was near dusk and the remaining light was fading fast so I tasked my lowly Nikon 80-400mm lens without tripod and hoped for the best. The results approached the limits of my technology; 1/15 second exposures, hand-held, 6400 ISO, underexposed one stop, and  with the lens wide open. The images posted here are severely cropped but nonetheless I'm happy to get the results I did manage. I will continue to check this location for more opportunities to photograph this bird. It figures that before I got back into photography ten years ago I had this bird sitting in a tree three metres from my home driveway, oblivious to all human existence.

Northern Saw-whet OwlNorthern Saw-whet Owl

Last Sunday on our midday walk around the Frog Pond, Sir Sanford Fleming Park, Halifax, we encountered a Pileated Woodpecker, the first we've found on this route in fourteen years of walking it. As usual the woodpecker was high up so decent profiles were not presented but here's one photo where it did allow a profile. Pileated WoodpeckerPileated Woodpecker